Print

[AdClem]

What can we amateurs learn from these huge World Cup scores?  The pundits keep telling us how much the game's changed.  Broken records are, in turn, broken again.  Par scores go up and up.  Batsmen clear the front foot, and hoof a good length offside ball over midwicket for six.  Or reverse sweep a middle stump yorker.  Shot after shot is premeditated, and hit where intended regardless of where the ball has pitched.  Bowlers rather than batsmen are now the cannon-fodder, and hang their heads in despair.

Should we accept that there's an ever increasing divergence between the mortals and the gods?  Should we just watch in awe?  Accept that most of us lack the skill, and could no more bat like Buttler and Maxwell than take a point off Federer or jog along beside Mo Farah?

OR, should we try some of these techniques?  Practice them?  Go out to the wicket with similar intent?  Realise that we won't be able to execute them as well, yet nevertheless try?  Are we too conservative?  Are we making the mistake of using 5-day Test match techniques in 42 over games?  Are we using Napoleonic tactics to fight 21st Century battles?

Discuss.

[Buzz]

Well what players can do is go to watch some of the pro's practicing these shots, then pick a couple of drills and work on them - reverse sweeps for 6 are pretty tough, but some of the scoops/deflections are easily worked on.
Clearing the front leg has been part of village cricket for a very long time

[FvanN]

I'm currently working on the AB back-across down on one knee and slap to leg side shot  Managed it against the medium pacers last Saturday, this Saturday will be attempting it against the quick's 

[AdClem]

Clearing the front leg has been part of village cricket for a very long time

True enough.  But it used to be called 'slogging' and was actively discouraged.  Wasn't it said that a six was a mis-hit four?

[jamielsn15]

The closest I get is McCullum's deep in the crease, back foot on off stump and look to hit to leg or long on.  As an opener I only really use it if I've been in long enough and/or at the back end of a 40-over or T20 innings.  Haven't got the eye or hands to do his other thing of batting yards out of his crease, though I will walk at bowlers, but that's been going on for years...

I think you've touched upon the larger issue in the UK which I think is the primary reason England are a) significantly behind in our limited-over strategy and b) why there is an inherent 'fear to play.'  The traditional/conservative values which are at the top of the large NGBs in England instil that fear and reserve.  The press and media in this country have a part to play as well.  It's one reason why English players are inhibited in big sports tournaments...

We've had 3 net sessions and already I've seen attempted ramps, walks to outside off and reverse slogs, some successful.  It's great to see and I'm sure I'll see more this season than in previous seasons.  I guess it needs to be seen by the pros regularly enough for it to filter down to the masses...     

[AdClem]

I'm currently working on the AB back-across down on one knee and slap to leg side shot  Managed it against the medium pacers last Saturday, this Saturday will be attempting it against the quick's 

And that was against an (albeit diminished) West Indies, rather than Afghanistan.

Is it about technique and skill, or attitude and intent?

[SLC]

I'd like to see AB bat on the pitches we use!

But seriously - they practice and practice, your average club player might try a silly shot a couple of times in the nets, but generally not seriously. Although a lot of clubs will have that guy who just hits in the air to cow but has a good eye - however I think with a little work they could score a lot more runs by batting properly!

[AdClem]

I think you've touched upon the larger issue in the UK which I think is the primary reason England are a) significantly behind in our limited-over strategy and b) why there is an inherent 'fear to play.'  The traditional/conservative values which are at the top of the large NGBs in England instil that fear and reserve.  The press and media in this country have a part to play as well.  It's one reason why English players are inhibited in big sports tournaments...

We've had 3 net sessions and already I've seen attempted ramps, walks to outside off and reverse slogs, some successful.  It's great to see and I'm sure I'll see more this season than in previous seasons.  I guess it needs to be seen by the pros regularly enough for it to filter down to the masses...   

I think you're right about England, and I think you're right about the filtering down.  And though I love Test cricket, I also think the excitement of this format will re-invigorate the game - if only kids could watch it free-to-air.

[uknsaunders]

I think eventually some elements will filter down to club level.

To me strength training will be something we will see more and more in the next decade. It won't be the strong lads swinging big willow but nearly every player will be able to clear the boundary on a regular basis. Rugby went through a similar revolution 30 years ago, when all of a sudden the weights room was as important as the training pitch.

I think instead of netting, many guys will be range hitting instead. Practise will be become less nets focussed and more about hitting the ball cleanly.

If not already, I expect bowling machines to be a must have at every club, no matter how small. Batters will spend more time facing the bowling machine than the bowlers, grooving specific shots.

Bowlers are already trying more variations but I expect more of them to succeed in consistency. They will be practising away from the batsman and working with a bowling coach. At the moment at club level very few can properly disguise a slower ball, let alone pitch it in the right area.

It will take a few years for the impact to filter through but once many of the Pro's of today retire and pass down what they have learnt expect clubs to catch up.

[AdClem]

I'd like to see AB bat on the pitches we use!

But seriously - they practice and practice, your average club player might try a silly shot a couple of times in the nets, but generally not seriously. Although a lot of clubs will have that guy who just hits in the air to cow but has a good eye - however I think with a little work they could score a lot more runs by batting properly!

Good point about the pitches; ours would certainly make these shots a lot riskier.  Do you think that wickets are being deliberately prepared to facilitate huge scores?  Do you think they ought to redress the balance a bit more in favour of the bowlers?

[SLC]

International pitches are certainly prepared to either last 5 days, or give high scores in ODIs.

Village pitches... well I think everyone gets them as nice as they can, but that doesn't always mean much! The other side of this is, for example our pitch, the outfield is so long that aerial shots are often the only way to hit boundaries, perhaps tilting the risk/rewards balance more towards big shots. Although this does then mean that big straight drives/ traditional cow hits are better value than reverses or scoops.

[Stuey]

For me this WC has been about a change in mental approach as much as new techniques or shots (for bowlers as well). We can all take the positive mental approach into our matches this season without having to have all the different shots in our locker, the fashionable name is 'intent'. How you implement 'intent' into your own game is a personal thing, but cricket is definitely the better for it.

[jamielsn15]

Good point about the pitches; ours would certainly make these shots a lot riskier.  Do you think that wickets are being deliberately prepared to facilitate huge scores?  Do you think they ought to redress the balance a bit more in favour of the bowlers?

A lot of ex players talking about the WC say the single biggest factor in the high scores is the four men limit outside the circle.  That can be linked to intent and mental approach.  Now, batsman feel they have much more margin for error and are more committed to going big more often, having honed their unconventional shots.

Wickets certainly seem flatter and I do think something needs to be done to redress the balance.  The psychology of sport is interesting.  Once the four minute mile barrier was broken, it happened frequently.  We've now seen 5 double hundreds in ODIs in 5 years since the first was made after nearly forty years.  That and 400+ scores have possibly only become possible with batter-friendly wickets, shorter boundaries and fewer fielders (jury's out for me on bigger bats...).  It could be argued that scores and totals would rise without tilting the bias even more in batsman's favour.

That said, we've seen 6-fors and a 7-for in the WC.  Possibly the intent from batsman to attack on wickets that aren't roads is assisting the bowlers, so perhaps we will see more excellent bowling figures - Woakes alone has taken two 6-fors in his short England career.  The continued evolution of a sport...

 

[Manormanic]

Lets not take the scores seen so far out of perspective.  Yes, there have been three four hundred plus scores but two were made against associate nations and the other against a heavily demoralised West Indian side (and that largely on the back of an innings by one of the greatest players of all time).  These scores are furthermore made on artificially small grounds and on some of the best batting pitches you're ever likely to see.

If Australia had hit 400 off New Zealand (or vice versa) or South Africa against India then it might have been the sea change that people are claiming, but I am afraid that people seem to be taking this completely out of context.

[SLC]

It's not just the 400s though, despite commentators saying it for years, it seems to me like one of the first times when 300 genuinely isn't a particularly good score a lot of the time.